A report on canker disease of Falcataria moluccana caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae in China

Falcataria moluccana is an important economic tree and widely planted in subtropical Southern China. From July 2012 to June 2014, a disease with typical canker symptoms was observed on F. moluccana in the forests of Zengcheng city, Guangdong province. Two representative isolates (BL1331 and HD1332) from the diseased tissues were identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae using morphological and molecular characterization. Phylogenetic analyses of combined ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region, β-tubulin and translation elongation factor 1-α placed the two isolates in a well-supported cluster with L. theobromae. Pathogenecity tests demonstrated that L. theobromae was virulent to F. moluccana. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed report of L. theobromae infecting F. moluccana in China.